Oil sands region’s mayor braces for Mulcair visit

FORT McMURRAY, Alta. • Thomas Mulcair will visit the oil sands he has been criticizing, but it will be a quick trip and few in this resource boomtown are expecting it will cause the federal NDP leader to change his opinion.

Against mounting criticism from the West over his recent comments, Mr. Mulcair intends to spend just a few hours here on Thursday to meet with the mayor and visit a nearby Suncor Energy Inc. oil sands mining facility, although his tour may be limited to the operation’s control room.

His conversation with Melissa Blake, mayor of the regional municipality of Wood Buffalo that includes Fort McMurray is expected to last about 30 minutes.

“I’m not really convinced [his visit] is intended to change anybody’s mind,” Ms. Blake said in an interview.

‘Being here gives a very different perspective than simplistic picture-taking of a large gaping hole in the Earth where mine operations are occurring’

The trip comes a few weeks after Mr. Mulcair made his now infamous “Dutch Disease” comments, in which he compared northern Alberta’s resource development to the negative impact Holland’s natural gas industry had on the Dutch manufacturing sector in the 1960s. He blamed oil sands production for driving up the value of the Canadian dollar, thereby making it harder for eastern Canadian manufacturers to compete globally.

Ms. Blake said first-hand knowledge of the region is critical before any opposing position can be justified, particularly by a major public figure.

“Being here gives a very different perspective than simplistic picture-taking of a large gaping hole in the Earth where mine operations are occurring,” she said. “There is so much more to it than that.”

“So for a national leader to have such strong thoughts and comments being made about a region that is very near and dear to me is a real concern because I know he has not had any of that first-hand experience or exposure to what is actually happening here. It was a quick dismissal I think that his very unfortunate. [His comments] were very disappointing.

“I would like to listen to what he has to say,” the mayor said. “What I would hope is that despite his personal feelings or past biases what we might be able to is just educate him a little.”

Her comments express more optimism than many other leaders in the region who have launched counterattacks against the federal opposition leader in recent weeks. Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall said Tuesday the Dutch Disease is actually a “myopia that comes from staring at an electoral map,” suggesting Mr. Mulcair’s comments were driven strictly by politics and not by economic or environmental issues.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said “one would still hope [Mr. Mulcair] would approach this visit with an open mind.”

“If he does … he will be mugged by reality. Reality of the importance of the vast resource — the jobs, the growth that we’ve had, government revenue,” Mr. Oliver told reporters Wednesday in Ottawa.

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“The reality of how science and technology [are an important part of] the industry. And to the reality how every region of the country benefits, including aboriginal communities.”

However, he said, Mr. Mulcair “has been clear that he does not support the oil sands and he does want to shut them down, killing hundreds of thousands of jobs.”

Mr. Oliver said the NDP’s “anti-resource development” positions has “nothing to do with economics but everything to do with an ideological agenda.”

Mr. Mulcair’s trip to Alberta has been public knowledge for weeks, though his intention to tour the heart of the oil sands has been kept under wraps.

During his time as Quebec’s Environment Minister between 2003 and 2006, Mr. Mulcair introduced new “sustainable development” legislation. Since taking over as head of the federal New Democrats this year, he has made it clear he wants the rest of the country to adopt a similar model.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford, who is having her deputy meet with Mr. Mulcair while she attends a conference in the United States, dismissed the suggestion last week.

“We cannot presume that what the Canadian economy was 15 or 20 years ago is the way it’s going to look 15 or 20 years from now,” she told reporters outside the Alberta legislature last Friday.

Ms. Blake said she is not aware of Mr. Mulcair’s proposal, noting it is one of the many reasons she believes their meeting will be beneficial.

Meanwhile, the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute published a report Wednesday arguing Ontario, Quebec and other provinces will enjoy the benefits from oil and gas-rich western provinces that far outweigh any ill effects from a higher Canadian dollar.

“While the so-called ‘Dutch Disease’ mechanism may operate, in practice it is offset by the gains to the overall Canadian economy,” write co-authors Robert Murphy and Brian Crowley.

Mr. Mulcair’s trip to Alberta has been public knowledge for weeks, though his intention to tour the heart of the oil sands has been kept under wraps.